SOL, TEMPLUM

* a temple built by Aurelian
after his return from the east in 273, and famous for its magnificence
(Hist. Aug. Aur. I.3;25.6; 39.2; Aur. Vict. Caes. 35.7; Zos. i. 61). Among
its treasures were many jewels and much gold (Hist. Aug. Aur. 39. 6;
Eutrop. ix. 15), a silver statue of Aurelian (Hist. Aug. Tac. 9. 2), jewelled
robes (id. Aur. 28. 5), and a painting of Aurelian and Ulpius Crinitus
(id. Aur. IO. 2; cf. Firm. 3. 4). The Sol worshipped in this temple was
probably a synthesis of several oriental Ba'alim (Rosch. iv. 1147-148;
cf. Watzinger and Wulzinger, Damaskus 38 (and Addenda 8*). In
connection with the temple was a porticus (Hist. Aug. Aur. 35. 3), in
which were stored the vina fiscalia (ib. 48. 4: in porticibus templi Solis
vina fiscalia ponuntur) that had been brought from the CICONIAE NIXAE
(q.v.), cf. CILvi. 1785 =31931; cf. PORTICUS GORDIANI). The last reference
to it in antiquity is in the sixth century (Anon. de Antiq. CpI. iv. 66, ed.
Banduri) when eight of the porphyry columns were sent to Constantinople
for the church of S. Sophia (see in general HJ 453-456; Rosch. iv. 1146-1149; Richter 263-265).

This temple was in Region VII (Not.), and in campo Agrippae (Chron.
148:templumSolisetcastra1incampoAgrippaededicavit), but its
exact site has occasioned much discussion. In the gardens of the
Palazzo Colonna considerable remains of a great temple were standing
in the sixteenth century, consisting principally of part of the cella wall
of peperino and the north (right) corner of the facade and pediment.
This was known as the Torre Mesa, Torre di Mecenate, and Frontispizio
di Nerone; LR, fig. 166 from Duperac, Vestigi, pl. 31 (1575). Part of
these ruins were removed at the end of the fifteenth century, and more
between 1549 and 1555, but the final destruction of the Torre itself was
not effected until about 1630 (LS iii. 203-205, and earlier references there
given). Numerous drawings and plans of these ruins are extant, made
by the architects and artists of the period, from Sangallo 2 (Barb. 63v', 65,
65v, 68v) in the fifteenth century to Giovannoli (III. 47) and Donati in
the early seventeenth (for list see HJ 422, n. 79; LS loc. cit.; DuP 141) 3;
the plans, however, by their differences in detail show that they have been
arbitrarily filled in. The building stood on the edge of the hill, on the
west side of the present Via della Consulta, and extended due east and
west, with a great flight of steps leading from the platform at the rear
of the cella to the plain some 20 metres below. This flight was curiously
built, being divided into double narrow rows of steps on each side of a
central space. The temple area was surrounded with a wall containing
niches but not with the usual porticus. The cella was built of peperino
lined with marble, and was surrounded by marble columns in front and
on the sides. The shafts of these columns were 17.66, the capitals
2.47, and the entablature 4.83 metres in height. The corner of the
pediment now lying in the Colonna gardens is the largest architectural
fragment in Rome, its dimensions being 3.70 by 2.80 by 3.90 metres,
and its weight 100 tons. This temple has been identified with that of
Sol by some scholars, who would include its site inRegion VII and interpret
in campo Agrippae (v. sup.) very broadly, as for example by Lanciani
(BC 1894, 297-307; 1895, 94-101) in opposition to those (Mitt. 1888, 98;
Rhm 1894, 393-396; BC 1895, 39-59; NS 1907, 680; 1908, 172, 231-233;
HJ 453-456; cf. BC 1914, 374; Mem. L. 5. xvii. 528-532; D'Esp.
Mon. ii. 172-175; Fr. i. 62-64; Fiechter and Hiilsen ap. Toeb. i. 73-84;
RE iii. A. 907-912) who believe that this was the temple of SERAPIS (q.v.).

The latter point out that the plan corresponds with that of an Egyptian
temple of the new kingdom, its essential parts being an almost square
court with a portico, a broad shallow hall on its west side, and three
rectangular cellae behind it. They note that the architectural detail is
very similar to that of the Hadrianeum.

If we accept this view, the temple of Sol lay north of the campus
Agrippae. Here, on the east side of the Corso between the Via S.
Claudio and the Via Frattina, have been found tufa and peperino
walls, granite columns and other architectural remains 4 (for those found
under the church of S. Silvestro in Capite, see PT 62), and a drawing of
Palladio, of the sixteenth century (BC 1894, pls. xii.-xiv.), represents a
building on this site which consists of two adjacent enclosures running
north and south. One of these has apsidal ends and is 90.50 metres
long and 42.70 wide; the other is rectangular and 126 metres long
and 86.38 wide. These enclosures occupy the space from the Piazza
S. Silvestro to the Via Borgognona, and are identified with the porticus
templi Solis (v. supra) (Toeb. 108- 112), while the temple itself is supposed
to have extended further north, although no traces of any sort have been
found north of the Via Frattina; cf. PI. 476, 492.